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User Comments about Notebooks

An Excellent App.

I use this app on MacBook, iPad, and iPhone. Whatever I enter on one device is conveniently synchronised onto the others via Dropbox. Other cloud systems are available.
I find it very useful for authoring in connection with Scrivener. It is useful for building a stock of related ideas such as: characters, settings, research, or as an initial form of corkboard (chapter summaries).
It also works well as a form of mind map, sharing across all devices. A facility not yet available on Scapple. To use as a form of mind map set up an initial Book as an hierarchical root. Within this book create other Books or Documents for branches. Within a document you can create nested lists, either numbered or bulleted. I.e. You can indent a new list from say an existing bullet level. The beauty is that you can subsequently go in part way down a bullet list and add a new bullet point – which could itself then be indented for a new sub list. Or within an existing Book you can add further ones. And all of this is can be shared across your devices.

The developer is very helpful with advice and there is a useful forum and introductory notes.

Wonderful. Well done.

This is the best app and I have been using it for about 10 years.
Good job!

For document management, I haven’t found a better app! Easy to use and also a pleasure to use.

This app is one that you can count on, year after year, without fear of sudden “developer abandonment”. It’s also not just been maintained, but has also been improved, while still keeping it intuitive to use. Keeping information, in whatever form, is one of my main uses for my iOS device. Having easy access (read AND write) to important information, that I can have with me at all times, is like having a basically unlimited capacity file cabinet in my pocket, but with all the advantages of searching, organization, and syncing that are available with having it stored on a really great, multifunctional computing device. And, of course, you can pass anything off to a more specialized app (or person), if necessary, while still maintaining the organization of Notebooks.

This is the writing app of my dreams. I use it to record everything from short simple notes to the drafts of essays. The contents can be an on the fly grocery list or my most complex theories and opinions. It does everything I want it to do and I’m sure there is more that I simply haven’t taken the time to explore because I have not had the need… yet. I’ve also never had any trouble opening, using, saving, or closing the app. In other words, the developers took the time and care to make sure their product worked before releasing it. What a novel concept.

I was looking for an app to store a variety of notes. Love how I have so much control over the organization of documents and can combine them into notebooks. Also love the ability to keep some things private. Overall great app.

Like onenote evernote and ibooks authornin one box. GTD your thoughts and projects, with tasks and context and markup 🙂 Print your notes as one big epub book 🙂

I’ve tried a lot of document and task mangers. This app is simply the best. Everything I need in one app and it works flawlessly. I can now delete the other apps. Everything I need is now in Notebooks. Many thanks to the developer for a great app.

I just wanted to tell you what a great job you’ve done developing this app. Best one out there for the serious notetaker, researcher, lawyer, etc. I hope to see continued development on this.

I have bought dozens of these sort of apps over the years – none of which ever got daily use for one reason or another, Notebooks is quite a different proposition and I now use it all of the time.Filled with hidden options that really enable you to configure it to do any task you throw at it this is a solid and reliable app with many cool features. I use it in conjunction with my Synology server by synching it via WebDav and then using CloudStation to sync between the server and the Mac desktop version. Synching this way is always fast and seamless (as is the straight wireless sync straight to the Mac). I also bought the addon PDF editor for the IOS app which is superb and worth every bit of the small amount charged for it, I cannot recommend Notebooks 8 for IOS highly enough for its stability and superb functionality.

I have to say first and foremost that “Notebooks is the only notebook that you need” is an understatement. This has to be hands down the greatest app in existence. One thing that I have learned that you can do with this app is create a static website, something that is not mentioned on your site. It also acts as a web browser, and I am writing this email from within the notebooks app itself. This app is as close to perfection as it gets.

This is one of the few programs I have that I can reliably run across multiple platforms (OS X, iOS for iPhone, iOS for iPad). Also love frequent updates and improvements. Keep up the great work!

I looked at a bunch of note taking applications, and yours beat out all the others for me. It’s simple, clean, lightning fast and a joy to use.

I just want to thank you for developing Notebooks. I’ve been searching for a note-taking app to replace Evernote for a LONG time, and I’ve finally found the perfect solution.
I especially appreciate these features: customizable color for note backgrounds (something Evernote has refused to do for years!), cross platform syncing with desktop app, rich text editing, simple and straight-forward design, multi-level hierarchy, offline notes on mobile, integrated to-do functionality, etc.
Kudos to you! This app is just what I was looking for a very long time.

Notebooks is my workhorse. I use it every day and all day to manage all my business and personal stuff. It has replaced my Daybook and project notebooks entirely – and done so with efficiency and style. It’s still the best! – Thanks!

This is the best, most-used, and most reliable app I own. There’s practically nothing it won’t do. Quick notes, formatted text, to-dos, alarms. It replaces Awesome Note, Write, and all the other productivity apps I had been using. Developer response is near-instant. It holds my PDFs, web pages, and all my organizational scribblings. Between this app and Evernote, I don’t skip a beat. I use it every day, multiple times. Most highly recommended.(AppStore Review by Dr. Bruce)

Picked This Over Evernote (App Store Review by BuonRotto)

The app is somewhat intimidating at first with its very beautiful, tasteful but spartan look. The developer goes to pains to NOT enforce a system for organization beyond of course the books metaphor. You really have to start dumping content in to see how nice it is.

I was using Evernote but I had a bunch of reservations about it that Notebooks answers:

Viewing PDFs, images, slideshows, web pages, etc. just like any note. Everything in Notebooks you put in it is on equal footing, not attached, linked or otherwise stuck inside a note — it is the note!

Completely transparent system for your data. Yes, it’s basically tied to Dropbox or perhaps a homespun cloud. But I can get to this content through Dropbox, back it up and I never have to worry about being locked into proprietary formats. Totally future-proof.

The formatted document type and styles are a little gem for beginners like me. Then I read some more and realized it’s not hard to apply new formats to documents with CSS. You can either learn a bit and roll your own or find a bunch of code online. Incredibly flexible, at least potentially.

It’s just as “everywhere” as Evernote with the Dropbox support. Anything you throw into your a Drop box Notebooks folder shows up in a Notebooks. No special import procedure, though there are some nice copy/paste features inside the app, and of course it shows up in the “Open in…” sharing dialog. These really nullify all those Evernote buttons out there. There is even a JavaScript bookmarklet if you like.

REALLY responsive developer. Can’t emphasize how nice that is to have an actual person at the other end of the email. Very helpful and reassuring.

LOVE LOVE LOVE that I can extract or create tasks from my within notes now or later and that I can organize them how I wish with the contexts and due items smart folders. This is huge for me. Taking notes, creating action items, and assigning contexts for them (yes, full tagging would be a boon) all in one place. Better yet, the task can be full documents with referential material within them, breakdowns of sub-tasks, etc. you can start simple and keep adding. Great for someone like me who works with big, long term projects and deadlines.

Easy to share this stuff too either the old-fashioned way or through Dropbox sharing. Only nit to pick is that .plist files dot the folder landscape in Dropbox. Better than a proprietary format though and easy to sort folders in Dropbox by type.

You can create combined eBooks or other note types that can collect lots of info and documents and notes into one place. Great for archiving and for recording your process.

Disadvantages from Evernote or even OneNote:

No cute little I-create-note-titles-from-your-calendar-appointments trick. It’s pretty handy to be honest, but then again, I now date my note titles YY-MM-DD anyway. Yes, you can assign a location and time stamp to your notes in Notebooks!

Tagging is far more robust in Evernote. Tagging is also a great way to waste time and energy without a good, simple system. Notebooks has contexts which when done well are nearly as good. Only thing tagging allows over that is you can choose multiple tags to filter things like: high priority items for this project that are to be covered in a meeting.

The saved searches and OCR of Evernote pro are nice as well. Notebooks actually does a pretty good job with searching, but Evernote’s is search on steroids for those who need it. I’ve yet to really take advantage of such powerful tools, usually an indexed document, a good note naming scheme and book system will do the trick later on.

Specific to OneNote: the layout is a lot less flexible. No floating text fields, moving pictures wherever, etc. It’s not a layout app and OneNote tries to bridge the gap between concept mapping and outline note taking.

You can do much of what is in notebooks right within Dropbox or other similar cloud, but the rich feature set and interface make it so much more than a filing system or a note taker. It took me some time to really see how to use it to its full advantage, but it was well worth the investment.

If you need any sort of productivity app, just get this one and be happy. (App Store Review by SRhyse)

The first Notebooks was easily one of the unsung heroes of the App Store, and this update doesn’t fail to impress. Alfons and friends really outdid themselves with this one, and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here!

‘Everything’ apps tend to do many things poorly and little well, but Notebooks is unique in that the reason it’s so versatile doesn’t stem from bloat, but how far its features actually reach. You can easily use it for writing in either Markdown plaintext or fully formatted HTML, web clipping, converting anything from the web to Markdown (which no other app does), self publishing, task lists, file management, zipping and unzipping files to archive… Almost anything that involves sorting, structuring, linking, organizing, and displaying information works so well in Notebooks because it so seamlessly acts as the ultimate front end for making, storing, and modifying files on Dropbox.

Pretty much every productivity app is about making, storing, structuring, retrieving, modifying, and displaying information, and Notebooks is the king of them all in intuitive and agile ways. If iOS devices only came with one productivity app, as long as it were Notebooks, I doubt many would complain. That whole category in the App Store could be put away in favor of this one incrementally developed app that already has a 5+ year track record of responding and iterating in a timely manner to user feedback. And since it syncs with Dropbox (among other things) using a simple file system as backing, even without the app, your data is still yours, and not in some odd proprietary format that’s going to give you daily headaches in the years to come.

This is the perfect app for creating great documents and organising all those notes I’ve collected in Dropbox. As far as I know, it’s the ONLY app that will search and highlight all occurrences of that search. Notebooks can be as simple or as complicated as you want, it’s fast, no messing, and it just LOOKS great!

This app is by far the best I’ve used to organize my notes, PDFs, web pages, and photos. Definitely a go to app for people who like keeping all their media organized in one place.

I finally got fed up with Evernote’s gradual decline (slow or unreliable syncing, reminders that couldn’t be deleted without deleting the associated note, etc.) and looked for a replacement. Notebooks 7 may be pricey, but for me, it offers the perfect set of features: rich text formatting, easy organization of dozens of notes, and reliable syncing across my Mac, iPad, and iPhone. Given my needs, this was money well spent.

The app really is a marvel and I wish I’d discovered it sooner, congratulations on the great work.

I tried your product because I am offended at Evernote charging me to retrieve my own data (to keep data offline). Your app is far simpler and more elegant than Evernote. Keep up the good work.

It is one of if not the only Notebook Apps worth having and its functionality is amazing.

I’m 72yr old, raise sheep and sell eggs. I’ve been using Notebooks for many years as second brain (I don’t remember so good any more) and with Notebooks 7 it even got better, I have a iPad mini now. Notebooks to me is a large database that I can store anything that I need to remember at a later date in folders, files, and sub files. I can even store my research from the web. I can increase the size of print so I can read it. Oh yes also all my shopping lists, audio records etc. It’s unlimited. I haven’t even scratched the surface of what you can use it for, AND PRODUCT SUPPORT is the best I’ve ever found.

I’m a developing writer and Notebooks is just perfect to organise – and access quickly – all my whole crowd of writing ideas and thoughts. Along with the iphone and ipad version, Notebooks is the only app that’s really replaced my beloved Moleskine notebooks. The auto sync feature of the desktop and iOS apps are great too.

I’m a management consultant and the product lets me track scores of documents on dozens of projects for multiple simultaneous clients. As such, it is the most effective business assistant I’ve found in my 2+ years with an iPad.
-Steve

You’ve created a fine app and I use it every single day. Ive tried most of the note apps and this for me tops the lot. Thanks for Notebooks.
-Rob

Hello I recently purchased your app through the app store for my ipad mini. I want to thank you for the amazing job you guys have done creating this app. I strongly believe the price is so right it is far better than buying a paper notebook. I believe notebooks is the future in technology.

I think your app is the best note-taking app for iOS, and I have tried them all! Notability, Circus Ponies Notebook, Appigo Notebook, PhatPad, etc. Yours has all the best features and is the fastest, most reliable of them all. Please keep the enhancements and updates coming!
-Mark

You guys are awesome for creating this app!!! This app is awesome!
Thank God I found this. You are WAY ahead of Apple!

Thank you. The app is just terrific. I have turned a number of executives at my company on to your app which has made us all paperless. It’s very well thought out and well executed.

I use your application on my ipod touch and absolutely love it, there is literally NOTHING else out that that does exactly what I want, which is maintain a database of text file notes that sync with my dropbox and have subfolders (or books). I could care less how much it costs, put it in the market for 50 bucks and ill still buy it, your application has become an absolute NECESSITY in my job and personal life. Im kinda OCD about this kinda stuff and am unwilling to use anything that uses a proprietary database or website…what happens if it loses support? Hence why I believe your application is the single best solution out there for notes.

This is my own statement: having used Notebooks for over three years, every day, I must say that I cannot live without it, although it cost me a couple of sleepless nights, too.

I love your application because it keeps my notes in the most open format available….simple text files.

“This program has single handedly transformed the iPad from a content reading toy into a highly useful work & productivity (information & content creating) tool.”
-Michael

“Just wanted to thank you for Notebooks. It has been so solid, reliable, and enormously flexible for me that I have no interest in any other similar type app. I use it as my main text editor and frequently use it to convert to PDF. It has never failed me or let me down, and I appreciate your efforts and skill in making such a wonderful app.”
-Steven

“I think Notebooks is absolutely superb. You have really caught a need, and an excellent set of functionality which make this app truly useful in a wide range situations. It is one of my top applications which I use both for work and personal activities.”
-John

“I had been searching for a notes app that was easy to use, yet powerful enough to let me organize my “stuff” the way I think about organization. Needless to say, I burned through several apps that all turned out to be very disappointing. […] Then, I discovered Notebooks. WOW! It was everything I expected … and more! When I got my iPad, the first app I bought for it was Notebooks. Then, a few months later, I bought an iPhone and Notebooks quickly became my most-used app. I use Notebooks for everything from shopping lists (mostly on my iPhone) to writing fiction (on my iPad) … and pretty much everything in between. I have SO many interests and projects going on, and Notebooks has become absolutely indispensable to keeping my ideas organized. And, every time there’s an upgrade, you add a bunch of great features … I’m really impressed.”
-Ken

“I use Notebooks in conjunction with a LiveScribe Echo Pen and a Fujitsu ScanSnap desktop scanner, all synced via Dropbox. This makes it possible to have virtually anything that is relevant to my work always available within Notebooks (and thus with me). Wouldn’t be possible without Notebooks, no other app can handle this on both iPhone and iPad.”
-Bernd

“Notebooks fast became one of my most used iPad apps. In addition to being a great notepad for writing – with live word count, choice of fonts, and Text Expander support – it’s a fantastic way to keep track of various documents for projects at work and at home. Within the app, each notebook can contain written notes, pictures, and pretty much any file the iPad can view – Word .docs, Excel spreadsheets, PDFs, even web clippings.

Notebooks allows an iPad to become a true virtual three ring binder. It’s also hierarchical, so you can nest notebooks. Syncing is flexible, and lets you use the back-end you prefer – WebDAV, iDisk or Dropbox. I really like that whatever stuff I put in to Notebooks I also have access to through other methods, unlike a proprietary notetaker/clipper. There’s no wrapper file format, so if you stash a .doc in a notebook and sync to Dropbox, that .doc is there in a folder on Dropbox. I don’t even use the task list functionality since I had a good working solution for that before I learned about Notebooks, but it’s there if you want to integrate that with the writing and organizing functions.

In general, Notebooks is more flexible than we’ve come to expect from iOS apps. I’ve been using it for work for almost six months now, and find that the glow hasn’t worn off. Well worth the cash and short time to learn. “ (RS)

“As an owner of over 13 notebook apps (including Circus Ponies Expensive one), I have to say your is the best.”

“Notebooks + Dropbox + Scrivener = Writer’s Heaven !!”

“I have been a GTD user for years and have tried every todo, list maker, organizer out there. I am not kidding – I have been obsessive about it but all of them had a problem one way or there other. They were clumsy or had too many awkward steps for data entry, over reliance on tags, categories, priorities, lack of manual sorts, poor synching options etc. They have so much GTD stuff they forgot the basics that it can be done with pencil and paper, but they never give you the options or simplicity or flexibility to do so. You are GTD in every way that makes it efficient and makes me efficient. So Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!”

“Great reliable app with great support. – I have used Notebooks since November 2009 and this app is probably the most used app I have. Within Notebooks I have created hundreds of notes organized in ‘books’. This has a nice simple lay out with the ability to create numerous books even within books and notes.

I rely on using this app for important notes and it is imperative that my data is safe and I don’t lose any at all. Notebooks is reliable and I have been impressed that the developer always gets back to me with any questions and suggestions I have.”

“I have downloaded Notebooks for iPad and I’m thrilled. Finally a great, easy to use note application. I love the easy integration with iDisk without the hassle of additional programs. It does everything I was looking for since quite some time and it’s definitely worth the money.”

“I have to say the iPhone and iPad apps are somewhat of a masterpiece. Very clean, intuitive, powerful, and elegant. Very nice job.”

“I just wanted to let you know that after 4 days with Notebooks, it has become one of the most productive tools in my arsenal. Thank you.”

“Notebooks is the first app that has let me do serious, integrated work on the iPad. I’d love RTF with bullets, fonts and all of that, but even without it, the software is a winner.“

“I use this app everyday and it has seriously changed my life. No exaggeration. I love it!”

“Notebooks is the most useful app I have on my iPhone.”

“Your program is for me the best in it’s category”

“Strangely, before the iPhone and Notebooks, I never would have even considered writing on a phone.”

“I’m really enthusiastic about Notebooks. I have been working with it for a few days and I’m already using it for my GTD-system, work-notes, private stuff, etc. I think my whole life will be in it soon.”

“I have about 300 text files of about 30-40k each in about 50 folders. I periodically edit one or two of them, sometimes on the iPhone, sometimes on my Mac. When I sync, changes are accurately copied in the correct direction in about 5 seconds. This is so much better than most iPhone apps.”

“Being an industry contractor I need to stay on top of the goings-on of over 50 companies. Notebooks, with its editable groups, choice of books or tasks, clickable links, calendar reminders etc has meant that I don’t have to duplicate information in separate apps. For my situation it is the perfect combination of contacts, calendar and notes available and for eight bucks its a bargain. Well done.”

“I want to thank you so much for the wonderful App, which is so much better than the dozen other note Apps I tried on my iPhone. It is sophisticated, in an unassuming way, so that you find yourself greatly rewarded and being productive without sacrificing time/effort to the App.

I cannot tell you how much productivity I have gained, by staying with your App, learning it thoroughly, and growing with it also. I am having a huge amount of fun, I use it constantly, more than the phone on my iPhone in fact.” – Craig, Australia